Little Pink Devil
by Ace's Shadow Girl
Summary: Halloween in Soul Society. Renji doesn't look forward to it at all... One-shot.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach.

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¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© **Little Pink Devil **©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨

"Stop grumbling already!"

Renji shot his friend a death glare – since he could not do much else. Actually, speaking sounds quite muffled with bandages all around your head.

Rukia, apparently, had her fun. It had been her idea, originally, a fact that he would neither forget nor forgive her. She was the reason he looked like an idiot now, dressed in bandages from head to toe, while she just looked awesome. As usual.

* * *

_One week earlier_

"What day is it?" Rukia asked, leaning back from the desk from which the form she had to fill in was staring up at her blankly. She was a bit confused nowadays … not that it was strange, though. Being in love could indeed lead to absentmindedness. But she would rather bite her tongue than admitting such a thing.

"The 31th of October," Matsumoto answered. "In one week, if you're just occupied with next week's schedule."

"In one week … oh, that's Halloween." Ichigo had told her about humans' antics and holidays once, and she vaguely remembered it to have something to do with monsters and sweets.

"What's a 'Halloween'?" the Tenth Division's lieutenant asked curiously and propped herself up on the desk Rukia was sitting at.

"That's a special day in the human world," the black-haired girl explained, glad to have some talk to distract her from her task. "Children and even adults dress up as monsters or anything else, and then the smaller ones go from door to door to ask for sweets, or else they pull some pranks. For adults, though, there are special Halloween parties all around the place …"

"Parties?" Matsumoto squeaked and raised her eyebrows. "That's cool! Sounds like fun! How about I'll make one too?"

"Uhh, you know, I'm not sure …" Rukia started but was interrupted by Lieutenant Kira Izuru stopping by.

"A party! I'm with you!" he exclaimed, and soon she found him and Matsumoto already absorbed in planning the whole thing.

Rukia shrugged … could have ended worse. They had not had a party for quite a while. Perhaps it would distract the people from what had happened some time ago. And it would definitely distract _her_.

"… and I'm gonna be a dead ninja …" Kira explained and clapped his hands excitedly.

"Cool! I'll be a witch, then!" Matsumoto joined his jig of glee …

… and so it had started.

* * *

"Did you have to tell them?" Renji grumbled, but she did not even listen. He was not understandable, either, so he was mainly being ignored here.

When Matsumoto had sent him his invitation, he had first frowned at the piece of paper telling him that he should masquerade as something scary. When Rukia had seen his face, she had quickly told him it would not be that bad and that it was actually fun. Matsumoto had even invited Ichigo and his friends from the human world, since they should know pretty well how to celebrate that day.

Finally, Renji had gotten roped into the matter of dressing up and they had gone shopping to find themselves costumes. He had picked a pretty cool one looking like a pirate – he even had a hook for his hand, and a hat and an eyepatch and everything. His intention was to spread blood all over it (fake blood, that is) and make it look like he had either slashed many people or gotten slashed by many people. He had started to look forward to the party.

But then, things had gotten shitty.

On the day of the party he had gotten into his room, finding Lieutenant Kusajishi occupied with cutting his precious costume into shreds.

He had been speechless. Noticing his stare, she just said she needed something to fix her captain's arm with, and he could not even object. How she had gotten in here, why she had picked precisely his room and this one piece of clothing from a whole closet of black robes that were just perfect for fixing anyone's arm, or why she had not gone straight to the Fourth Division's rooms – he did not know, and he did not ask.

All he knew was that his costume was beyond repair, and that he had no time to buy a new one. He also knew that Rukia would rant and rave would he decide to not go to Matsumoto's with her. Besides, the pink devil's costume _she_ wore was not of the concealing kind. And there would be alcohol. Lots of alcohol, seeing as he knew Matsumoto Rangiku. And alcohol lowered inhibitions, and if he would not protect her Captain Kuchiki would just skin him alive. He had to go.

So, in the evening, when Rukia entered his room, he was just about to fix his headband and thought he was ready.

Yeah … so he thought.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you in your costumes?" she asked, bewilderment on her cute face as she eyed him up.

"I'm going as a Gotei 13 Lieutenant," he informed her and attached his armband to his left arm.

"Stop kidding!" Rukia exclaimed indignantly. "That's just so boring! What's with your costume?" She went to his closet and started rummaging around in there. "Where is it? Did you destroy it or what?" he heard her muffled voice out of it.

He huffed, offended by the fact that she thought him capable of doing such a stupid thing. "Are you an idiot? Of course I didn't! It was Lieutenant Kusajishi!"

Rukia's head popped out of the closet, and she gave him an unbelieving glance. "What's Lieutenant Kusajishi doing in your room?"

"Hell, if I knew that …" he muttered and checked his robes one last time. "Let's go or we'll be late."

Rukia stood up slowly and gave him that glance again. "You can't be serious."

"'Course I am. I have nothing else to dress up since parties are not _that_ common in here, remember? Or did you spend so much time in the human world that you can't differentiate any more?" He was deliberately annoying her … that was what made their relationship so thrilling.

"Fool!" she yelled and scowled at him for one moment before uttering a soft noise of surprise. "Ah! I've got an idea!"

"What now?" he asked and folded his arms in front of his chest, but she was already leaving.

"You stay here!" he heard her shout before the door slammed shut behind her.

"Aww, she's driving me crazy!" he mumbled to himself and sat down on his bed. But he knew damn well that he would not want it any other way.

When she returned about five minutes later, she carried an armful of white stuff. Bandages, he noticed and wondered what the heck she wanted with that. He was not injured, so what was the meaning of this?

He must have looked pretty puzzled, for she gave a large smirk and started explaining her idea to him. "Well, you know what a mummy is?"

"A mummy?" he asked, searched in his head … and then it dawned on him. "You don't want me to _wear this?_" His voice went high with shock.

"Great, isn't it?" she said. "So you won't be the bore of the year, and I'm sure you'll look pretty scary." She actually smiled at him … but all he could see was the devil's malicious grin. Literally.

"N-No way in hell! I won't fucking wear this!" he shouted and backed off to get away from her.

"Abarai Renji!" she growled, and his blood froze in his veins. "You. Will. Wear. This!"

"No!" he dared to contradict, but she had already thrown her load at him. He never thought a few straps of white cloth could be so painful when thrown.

"Now hurry up, we'll be late!" And with that, she folded her arms, a gesture he knew meaning "No back talk, do as I say!"

Renji gave a deep sigh and started undressing. And here he had put some extra effort in fixing his robes today …

Under her watchful eyes, he undressed to his boxers without hesitation but slowly, then shrugged, unaware of her stare. "What now?"

She tore her eyes away from his tattooed abs and managed to roll her eyes, to show him how pissed she was. Or wanted to appear. "Wrap yourself in these! What are you, six?"

Grumbling something intelligible, he sat down and started at his feet. But in the end, he acted so clumsy that she grabbed the bandages herself and shoved his hands aside. "I really think you're six," she said dryly and started covering his legs with the white stuff.

"Yeah, because it's ever so mature dressing up like oh-so-scary fairytale figures," he retorted.

She said nothing, but her smile betrayed her.

Soon he had no more thoughts left for being grumpy. All he could think of were her gentle hands on his skin, touching on delicate spots on his body, that made him want to have more time. She worked in silence, sometimes looking up at him, and smiled all the time. He so wanted to kiss her, and since that would have led to a shift in the bandages, she would have to do it again and he could enjoy her "treatment" for a bit longer.

But she would also never forgive him for being late at the party. And that he would not risk.

When she was finished with his body, every place on his skin tingled almost unbearably. How he wanted to rip the crap off again and then free her of the insufferable constraints her pink devil costume was …

"Chin up," she commanded, and he did as she said. Climbing up in his lap, she wrapped up his throat, careful not to make it all too tight, and then started with his head. He had to smile when every layer of cloth was preceded by a soft stroke of her fingers as she deliberately let her hands dance over his skin. Her concentrated face looked really cute, he had to admit. Perhaps this costume was not so bad after all …

That is, until she insisted on covering up his mouth and nose. "How am I supposed to breathe like that?" he complained and stopped her hand from distributing more cloth.

"I'm sure you'll find a way," she snickered and reached around his head to unfasten the hair tie that held his pineapple style in place. "In addition, that needs to be down or you'll look just very stupid."

"Thank you very much," he pouted at her.

She gave a little laugh and combed the thick strands of deep red hair to the sides of his face. "I like that," she announced and allowed herself some extra time to occupy herself with his hair, combing her fingers through it and grazing his scalp ever so softly.

"I like that too," he smiled, short before purring like a cat.

Rukia laughed again and bent down to kiss him. His mind went blank for a moment when he felt her soft warm lips – and she used this moment to quickly spread bandages all over his face and hair, just interrupted by the space she left for his eyes.

Growling at her, he tugged at the bandages over his nostrils until he had them free. "Damn, woman," he grunted, and Rukia started laughing.

"So nice! Now I don't have to hear your grumpy voice for the whole evening!" she teased and stuck her tongue out at him.

He scowled – not that she saw it, anyways. She placed a kiss on his (dammit! bandaged!) nose, then climbed down from him. "Let's go now or Matsumoto will punish us for being late … and you know what that means."

Renji suppressed a shudder – yes, he knew. Last time (looong ago), when Hisagi had been too late to a party, she had made him drink a whole bottle of rum at once, saying he had to catch up to the others' level of drunkenness. Oh, and that he had. Too quick. Needless to say, the party had been over for him.

He felt Rukia's excitement on the way to Matsumoto's, even if she tried to not let it show. He really intended to get into a better mood, but it was difficult. This costume was just silly, even if it had been her dressing him in it.

And by entering their destination, easily recognisable by the loud music, his concerns came true.

There was Ichida Uryū as a vampire with a dark cloak and fake fangs … there was Captain Hitsugaya dressed as a white wolve next to a giggling Lieutenant Hinamori who looked like a cute hell moth … with red cheeks. There was Sado Yasutora painted all green (Orihime later explained it to him as a 'Hulk') and Ichigo in a zombie costume … bare-chested, of course. There was Matsumoto as a witch showing more cleavage than ever, Kira as a dead ninja (like he had announced the whole week), there even was Captain Kuchiki as a vampire looking disdainfully at Uryū as if he were his competitor. Captain Zaraki, a Medusa (who the hell had convinced him to that?), with a little pink fluffball clinging on to him (whatever she wanted to be). And, perhaps with the exception of Orihime who was dressed like she wanted to be a ghost, but in orange – they all looked better than him.

"Damn," he muttered when the pink fluffball tugged at her captain's sleeve and pointed at him, laughing her ears off. "I want my bloody pirate costume back!"

"Stop complaining! At least you're not such a bore," Rukia reprimanded him and took his wrist to pull him towards the others. And he followed his little pink devil like one would walk towards the gallows meant to end his life.

* * *

_Several hours, drinks, and muffled complaints later …_

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Renji muttered as he leaned against a wall. He had found out that speaking with a bandage before your mouth was just silly since nobody understood you, that not being able to actually eat or drink was boring and that his little pink devil had more fun with teasing him than anything (or anybody) else. Normally he would gladly indulge in such a fake fight, but just now he absolutely could not stand it. And so as not to explode and yell at her (as if he even could!), he had exiled himself into the hallway where he could mutter curses without anyone hearing.

Probably he should just go home now. Rukia was fine as long as she was with Zombie-Ichigo and her brother to keep an eye on her, and she would not even miss him. Yeah, the way she laughed with the substitute Shinigami even pissed him off a bit. He just could not help it. He would only spoil her mood like this, acting all jealous and possessive of her and stuff … yes, probably it was for the best when he went home now.

He was just about to slip off through the back entrance when he heard someone coming his way. Annoyed, he turned around – only to take a full hit in the chin from a small but yet incredibly hard fist.

"What do you think you're doing?" the little pink devil asked, her voice dangerously calm, and glared daggers at him. "Like hell you'll just go like that!"

"As if you'd care," he scowled to the side and crossed his arms.

She was clearly taken aback by this. Looking stunned, she cocked her head and frowned. "Why? Of course I do."

"Ah, forget it," he muttered and shook his head. "Go in and have fun, I'll just go, I look silly …"

She looked at him with her frown before a slow smile spread on her face, and she closed her eyes for a moment. "Oh, Renji. I'm sorry."

"Huh?" He was surprised by her words. Normally she would have started a fight …

"Let me show you something." She quickly closed the distance between them with two steps, and in one swift movement, put her hands on his shoulders and jumped up to climb him like a tree, with her legs wrapped around his waist.

Renji gulped as the close contact caught him unawares. The way her body pressed into his was almost too much – at least, here and now. And her cute soft smile right before his eyes made him stare at her like an idiot.

Rukia took her hands up to his face and fiddled around with the stubborn bandages that covered his mouth. And – as by a miracle – he suddenly felt air touching his lips … shortly before he felt hers on them as she bent down, still smiling in a way that let him forget anything he had thought before she had entered this hallway, especially these unfair and unreasonable things about her and Ichigo.

"I love you, idiot," she said when she pulled back from the kiss. He saw her quickly looking around as if to assure herself that really nobody was around, then grinning at him and taking one hand up to play with a stray strand of red hair peeking out of his wrappings. "And I'd love to help you getting out of these bandages tonight."

Renji gave a chuckle that came from deep down. "I'd like that too," he replied and took his hands up to hold her head in place as he kissed her with all his heart before looking her deep in her eyes. "I love you too … moron."

* * *

**Author's note:** Really, I got no clue whether they have normal dates in Soul Society. Let's just assume they do. And perhaps you recognised chapter 379's front page, teehee^^ I saw it and thought something like, putting Renji's bandages aside from his mouth and … ah well, little pink devil's job^^ Hope you enjoyed! Renkia forever.


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